The use of the world wide web (WWW) has become an everyday activity all over the world. Usually, web users access web content as so-called web pages by specifying a corresponding address in some kind of user terminal. Conventional access terminals may feature one or more applications (software) for accessing web pages, e.g. in the form of so-called browsers. These browsers handle the request for specified web content and the content's display to and interaction with the user. Web content is usually organized in the form of said web pages that can be individually addressed and accessed by specifying their respective web addresses.
The involved hardware equipment can likewise assume any suitable form, including individual personal computers (PCs), network/internet computers, laptops, notebooks, mobile phones, smart phones, personal digital assistance (PDAs), and the like. All these devices provide processing, communication, and memory resources for implementing the desired application for accessing the web content.
Apart from an explicit specification of a desired web page by means of a corresponding web address, there are of course other ways to access web pages without the need for knowing the respective web page's address. Most notably, one (source) web page can provide a so-called link which can be selected by a user for instructing the access equipment (e.g. browser) to access another (target) web page. In other words, the link in the source web page “points” to the target web page. For this purpose, the link usually also comprises the web address of the target web page. Usually, the user accesses the referred web page by clicking or selecting the link on the browser's user interface (mouse, touch screen, and the like).
One common way for addressing web pages is the definition of locations where the corresponding content is stored. The internet with its so-called internet protocol (IP) provides the related IP addresses that are intended to identify one unique storage location. Since such IP addresses are in the form of several tuples of numbers, they are difficult to memorize and are usually not suitable for everyday public use. However, there exist the concept of the so-called domain name servers (DNS) that can translate plain text addresses into their associated IP address. In this way, there is an easy means available for accessing a web page by associating its content to a plain text address, such as “www.nasa.gov”. A link may thus contain this plain text address specification (or the corresponding IP address) and some kind of identifier that is presented to the user. Naturally, the identifier can coincide with the plain text address (e.g. the user may be fully aware that “www.nasa.gov” leads to the NASA home page).
With the increased use of the WWW it became also more and more important to obtain information on the navigation behavior of users accessing web pages. Generally, the term navigation refers to the user's actions in connection with selecting, requesting, and accessing web pages. For example, a user navigates through web content by accessing a first web page and then, possibly following a link contained in that first web page, accessing a different second web page. It should be clear that information on such user navigation behavior can be of major importance in the context of billing and/or awarding users and/or web page owners for their use and contributions to the world wide web. This information can be valuable at both an individual level (i.e. per user) or at a large scale as collective data in the sense of indicating how many users followed which link in what source web page.
For example, one web page owner may operate one or more web page(s) with various links to other web pages. Once the web page owner succeeds in attracting many users that access the web page and follow the respective links, the owners of the referenced (linked) web pages may enjoy a substantial benefit by having the users visited their sites and accessed their web pages. However, there can only be sensible and appropriate compensation amongst the involved parties (owners, operators, etc.) if there is reliable information on the corresponding navigation behavior of the users that reflects—at least to some extent—a more or less accurate figure on what (source) web page “brings” users to other (target) web page.
The routines and protocols employed for conveying content across the world wide web already provide mechanisms for obtaining such information on the user's navigation behavior. One widely used protocol is the so-called hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) that handles data exchange between a source (server) and a requester (user) for conveying web content. HTTP also provides a so-called referrer header that carries information on what target web page was referenced by what source web page. Intercepting this information naturally allows one to collect information on what web pages successfully made users visit other web pages. At the same time, however, concerns on confidentiality and user privacy, recently resulted in a decreased use and reliability of the HTTP referrer header and other existing tools for obtaining information on user navigation behavior. Specifically, web site owners, network operators, and/or browsers may interfere with the exchanged information so as to filter out more and more information that could be used for such purposes.
Furthermore, the number of web site owners that blank out at least a part of the information contained in the HTTP referrer header is increasing. Therefore, the analysis of the information contained in the HTTP referrer header may no longer be—despite being still present—a reliable means for obtaining information on user navigation behavior. At the same time, however, such information will remain important since web page owners and network operators will have continuous interest on what web pages are able to successfully bring users to visit other web pages.
There is therefore a need for a way of obtaining information on user navigation behavior that is more independent from the conventionally available mechanisms and information. At the same time, there is a need for efficient implementation with respect to the involved processing and communication resources, since the amount of exchanged world wide web data is enormous. In particular, there is the need for an efficient implementation of an independent way to obtain information on navigation behavior of users accessing web pages.